After School, Last Time
by Fantastic Cello
Summary: It's the final day of school for Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Yui and the girls decide to take one last look around their school before going to university. Ritsu does one more thing to Mio, who has grown accustomed to Ritsu's pranks and simply brushes it off, but for once it's not a joke.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, thought I'd try my hand at doing a fanfic for K-on! This morning I read a MioxRitsu doujinshi called 'A Standard of Graduation Ceremonies' and though it was short, the ending left me kinda woodly (can't think of the word I want to use here so I had to make one up T-T). I read it about 6 times, and it's a base for this fanfic.

I think by this point it's been established that if any of us here actually owned K-on! we sure as hell wouldn't be just sitting here writing fanfiction about it.

* * *

The day of the Sakuragaoka High seniors' graduation was over, and the school had emptied out surprisingly quickly, save for a few of the teachers and 4 of the girls from the light music club.

Ritsu, Mio, Mugi and Yui slowly shuffled their way around the school, looking nostalgically at what had become a second home for them.  
Now the four of them stood inside the music room, inhaling its musty yet somehow pleasant scent and thinking back over the memories they had created in it (like the time Ritsu jumped up behind Mio, who freaked out and judo-threw her in to a wall).

'Say,' Yui said, breaking their wistful silence, 'do you think Sawa-chan will let us come back here to see Azu-nyan and Ton-chan? And Jun and Ui?'

'Mm, probably.' Ritsu replied. 'I bet she's willing to do anything to see Mio in that maid uniform one more time.'

'I don't see why not.' Mio said, after giving Ritsu a withering look.

'I hope so. I had so many good times here with you guys, and I'll never forget the light music club. Or the snacks.' Yui said.

'Maybe one day, when we're all married with our own children, we should come back here and have just one more cup of tea.' Mugi thought aloud.

'Yeah,' Mio smiled at her, 'I'd like that.'

Ritsu spoke up, ruining the moment: 'Not that Mio's gonna be brave enough to have kids. Have you ever seen a guy's wingding? That thing looks like the monster from that horror movie, all slimy and dis- Ow!'

* * *

With their last trip to the music room finished, the four girls walked to their shoe lockers to leave.

'This reminds me of in anime when the main character gets a love letter in her shoe locker.' Ritsu said, rubbing the bump on her head.

'Whadaya mean, Ricchan?' Yui bent down to open her shoe locker.

'You know, like a letter that says to meet in an empty classroom or something like that. A final love confession.'

'Ooh, how romantic and mysterious!' Mugi had a hundred different emotions flickering in her eyes and Ritsu laughed at her friend's love of anything mildly romantic.

Mio didn't say anything but was blushing furiously after she shut her shoe locker, which led to a series of taunts from Ritsu.

And another bump on her head.

'You guys go on by yourselves from here.' Ritsu said when they reached the entrance of the school.

'Are you sure?' Mugi asked.

Ritsu nodded. 'Yeah, I gotta return some stuff to the library and I think Mio had to go see Sawa-chan or something like that, so we don't wanna make you come with us. Besides, we're gonna see each other next Sunday, right? Don't worry about it.'

'Okay, well, take care!' Mugi waved, smiling.

'See you later, Captain Ricchan!' Yui saluted her with a smile.

'Sure. See you on Sunday!' Ritsu grinned at them before walking back in to the school one last time.

* * *

Ritsu made her way back to the building which contained her classroom. She walked around the perimeter of it until she reached the back of the building, and the back view of Mio Akiyama appeared before her.

'Mio~' Ritsu said in a creepy voice.

'Bah!' Mio swung out, narrowly missing Ritsu.

'Dude, cool it.' Ritsu said, recalling the judo-throwing incident.

'Oh, um, sorry.' Mio murmured. 'I thought you were, uh... Someone else.'

'You mean the one who wrote you the love letter in your shoe locker?'

Her face turning a bright red, Mio stared at Ritsu. 'How did you know about that?'

She shrugged. 'A hunch. Why else would you be waiting behind the classrooms?'

Mio was too embarrassed to properly analyze the situation, so the fact that Ritsu somehow knew exactly where she was didn't occur to her at that point in time. Ritsu, of course, wasn't going to bring it up.

Still faintly red, Mio turned around. 'Well, let's go. It was probably a prank anyway. Besides, this is an all-girls school. And my secret admirer never showed up.'

As she began to walk away, Ritsu muttered, 'Didn't they?'

* * *

After leaving school, the two girls walked to the train station together. It was about 5pm and the sky was starting to darken, but it was still light enough that things could be easily seen and the birds were still chirping.

'It's hard to believe, isn't is?' Mio asked suddenly.

'Huh? What is?' Ritsu sideways-glanced at Mio.

'That we've officially graduated from high school. That we're going to university next year. That... That we're never going to see Miss Yamanaka, or Ton-chan, or Azusa... ever again.'

Ritsu shook her head. 'That's not it, we'll still see them on the weekends and at training camps and stuff like that. Well, not Ton-chan, but the others. I thought you didn't like Ton-chan anyway?'

'He's... Not that bad.' She mumbled.

They stood near the edge of the station platform and continued to talk about the light music club, university, future goals, until the topic somehow arrived at dating.

They continued to discuss matters pertaining to the topic of dating and love for exactly twenty-seven-and-a-half minutes, and then (according to Ritsu) Mio's train had to go and ruin the conversation by arriving on time for once.

Mio checked that she had everything and stepped forward to the edge of the platform, in front of the gates which showed where the train doors would be located.

For the 6pm train it was pretty empty, but it wasn't a very popular train to catch anyway, since it only went a short way in the suburban areas before heading to the countryside.

'Well, I'll be off, then.' Mio said, turning to Ritsu. 'See you later. Have a good holiday, and don't forget to keep up your studying.'

Ritsu nodded. 'I know, I know. Don't worry about me.'

'Well it's impossible to tell with you. You'll probably end up in jail.' Mio smiled wryly as she boarded the train.

'Hey, Mio.' Ritsu called out before the doors shut.

Mio turned around. 'Yes?'

'I love you.'

* * *

I'm sorry, I had to write this D: I may or may not continue this fic depending on whether you guys want it to stay like this or watch Mio freak out on the train. Either way works for me.

Hope you liked it :) Feedback and constructive criticism is always welcomed :3


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back yay

Hope this goes down well

* * *

_'I love you.'_

Mio stood, frozen, on the train platform for approximately 3.2 minutes. She eventually sat down on a bench after an old woman asked her if she was okay, but she still couldn't think coherently. Putting her head in her hands, Mio tried to sort things out in her head.

Logic. That was always 'the Mio way,' as Yui put it. Sorting things into some kind of order so that it was easy to figure out. Like a filing cabinet in her mind, but one that was adorned with lots of 'Mio-ish' things, like cute stickers and stuffed toys.  
This new information was impossible to file away. It felt like she was trying to shove a truck into a plastic cup, i.e not possible.

'Alright Mio, focus. You can do this. It's only, what, three words? You've solved harder math problems than this, how bad can it be?' The old woman gave Mio a weird look when she started desperately muttering to herself, and shuffled away.

With her mind still in utter turmoil, Mio made a noise that somewhat resembled that of a choking owl. _I have to figure this out logically, _she told herself. _It's the only way._

After rummaging through her school bag she found a pen and pad of paper. Every thought that threw itself into her mind was written down until Mio realized she was ruining the point of making a list by rambling on nonsensically.

-Ritsu likes me

-Do I like Ritsu?

-This has been going for how long?

-Need to establish my feelings

-Could be a joke

-Probably a joke

-What happens if it's not a joke

-She looked pretty serious (for Ritsu)

-I guess I like Ritsu but not really like that (?)

-So what do I tell her?

-Do I talk to her about it?

-What do I say?

-I never really considered whether I'm in to boys or girls

-Both?

-Didn't I friendzone Ritsu or something...?

-I should probably talk to someone about this (Mugi? Miss Yamanaka? School Counsellor?)

_Well that helped, slightly._ Mio sighed and stood up. It was starting to get dark and her train would be due soon, so she walked back onto the platform, her thoughts still swirling like a kaleidoscope.

* * *

Mio spent the rest of that week (planning to skip the Sunday meet-up if she couldn't face Ritsu) endlessly thinking about what Ritsu said, to the point where she couldn't even study. She tried writing lyrics to take her mind off it but she mainly wrote about cutesy things like love, and that was exactly the thing she was trying to avoid thinking about.

'Argh, why'd Ritsu have to go and tell me that?' Mio groaned in frustration. 'Now I can't think straight.'

Realizing that Ritsu probably would've made a joke about thinking_ straight, _Mio shoved her face into a pillow and moaned pitifully.

After approximately 7 minutes of intense confusion, Mio picked up her list again. The line "Need to establish my feelings" stood out as the most important one to sort out at the moment. Even if it was a joke, she figured she might as well work out what she felt about Ritsu in case she wasn't totally kidding. Besides, she didn't seem like the type to joke about that kind of thing, and she had predicted the love letter-

_The Love Letter._

Mio's mind- containing her love of mystery and detective novels- whirred to life like a computer switching on and she ripped off another piece of paper from the notebook. Mio had a vague feeling that by the end of this she would go through a lot of paper.

-Ritsu mentions love letters in shoe lockers

-I get a love letter in my shoe locker

Mio dragged herself off of her bed and over to her bag, frisking through its contents to find the love letter. Examining it, she saw that the handwriting was slightly different to Ritsu's, but on closer inspection she saw that some things were still the same, like the way Ritsu always drew her 'j' with a line across the top instead of a dot.

She made new additions to the list:

-Ritsu's handwriting (most likely)

-See Ritsu where the confession is meant to take place

-Ritsu says she loves me

-Mio's hand shook as she wrote the last part of that line.

Taking a shuddering breath, Mio re-read the notes she had made and was able to establish that Ritsu had most likely penned the love letter.  
Now that she had worked out that Ritsu was almost definitely serious- she was known to take pranks far, but never _this _far- Mio went back to her original question.

_What are my feelings for Ritsu?_

Another piece of note paper was ripped out.

-Best friend

-Admire her outgoing, funny personality

-Envy (?)

-Had a possible crush in middle school

-...

-?

-If she likes me does it change things?

_Maybe I've just convinced myself that we're only friends, _Mio thought. _Or maybe I'm trying to convince myself of something else._

'Argh, why does this have to be so confusing?' Mio flopped back onto her bed and covered her eyes, her mind eventually burning out and letting her sleep.

Waking up Saturday morning, Mio yawned and stretched, knocking the notepad onto the floor. It was too far away for her to reach from the bed, so she got up to get it. She realized that she'd fallen asleep with her school clothes on. _Was I that tired? _She asked herself.

After she showered, ate breakfast and got dressed, Mio returned to her room. It had become her 'thinking space', as her mother put it. She stayed in there for most of the day, only coming back down to have lunch and find a new pen.

Examining the 7 lists that now lay around her, Mio had come to the following conclusions:

-Ritsu liked her

-She may or may not like Ritsu as well

-This definitely had to be discussed with Ritsu

-The other Light Music Club members (including Miss Yamanaka) could not be told until things had been sorted out

Mio sighed, knowing that she didn't like confronting people about things. But the knowledge that constant stress and confusion would plague her if she didn't ask Ritsu- as well as the awkwardness and tension that would surround them next time they met- prompted her to do something about it.

Taking a deep breath, Mio picked up her phone and started typing.

* * *

_Ritsu,_

_About what you said at the train station, um... Can we talk?_

_-Mio_

* * *

__After waiting for Ritsu to reply, Mio got up to do something- study, pace the room, _anything- _but then her phone lit up and beeped._  
_

Mio's heart was accelerating and hands were trembling to the point where she could hardly open the text. After taking a few breaths to try and steady herself, she opened the message.

* * *

_Sure. Confession letter spot at school?_

_-R_

* * *

After hurriedly replying that that was fine, Mio half-sat, half-crumpled onto her bed. She ripped out another piece of paper from her notebook and began to scrawl another list.

* * *

Well I hope you all like that. A little different from the first chapter, sorry, but I hope it's not too bad.

Constructive criticism and feedback is welcomed and appreciated :3 Thanks!


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